James GORHAM Sr. (1650 – 1707) was Alex’s 9th Great Grandfather; one of 1,024 in this generation of the Shaw line.

James Gorham was born 18 Apr 1650 in Marshfield, Plymouth, Mass. His parents were John GORHAM and Desire HOWLAND. He married Hannah HUCKINS in Barnstable on 24 Feb 1672/73. James died at Barnstable, MA, on 18 Nov 1707 and is interred at Lothrop Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts.

James Gorham – Headstone – Barnstable Lothrop Hill Cemetery

HERE LYES Ye BODY OF JAMES GORHAM DIED NOV’r Ye 18th 1707 IN Ye 58th YEAR OF HIS AGE

As eldest son, James received a large piece of his father’s land in Barnstable and built a large home there. At the time he was the wealthiest man in Barnstable. James was a farmer all his life.

p. 414 of GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES

James Gorham, eldest son of Capt. John Gorham, was a farmer, and often employed in public business. In the dividion of his father’s homestead, he had the north westerly and central portions, on which he build a large and elegant mansion house. It stood on the spot where Mr. Warren Marston’s house now stands and was taken down about twenty years since. It appears by the schedule of the dividion of the common lands made in 1703, that he was then the richest man in the town of Barnstable. He married Hannah, daughter of Mr. Thomas Huckins, of Barnstable. He died in 1707, aged 57, and his widow 13th Feb. 1727, aged 74 years.